A refrigerator unit is a device intended to store food items at low temperatures. The refrigerator unit may be configured to keep food at a temperature necessary to reduce the reproduction rate of bacteria in the food. Perishable food may be optimally refrigerated between 37° F. to 41° F. to allow for food to be stored for a longer period of time than without refrigeration. A refrigerator unit may also freeze food items in a separate compartment at a temperature that is below approximately 0° F. for an indefinite period of time without spoilage.
The inside of a refrigerator unit is cooled by supplying cooling air of a desired temperature that is generated through a heat exchanging operation of a refrigerant based on a refrigerating cycle. The cycle includes a process of compression-condensation-expansion-evaporation. The cooling air supplied to the inside of the refrigerator unit is evenly transferred by a convection current to store food items within the refrigerator at a desired temperature.
In general, a refrigerator body of the refrigerator unit has a rectangular shape with an open front side providing access to a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber. Further, hinged doors may be fitted to the front side of the refrigerator body in order to selectively open and/or close openings to the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber. In addition, a plurality of drawers, shelves, receiving boxes, and the like may be provided in the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber within the refrigerator unit to keep various food items in an optimal state.
Conventionally, refrigerators were configured as a top mount type in which a freezing chamber is positioned above a refrigerating chamber. Recently, bottom freeze type refrigerators position the freezing chamber below the refrigerating chamber to enhance user convenience. In the bottom freeze type refrigerator, the more frequently used refrigerating chamber is positioned so that a user may easily access the chamber without bending over at the waist, as previously required by the top mount type refrigerator.
However, a bottom freeze type refrigerator may lose its design benefits when a user wants to access the lower freezing chamber on a more frequent basis. For example, prepared ice that is stored in the freezing chamber may be a popular item accessed frequently by a particular user. In a bottom freeze type refrigerator, since the freezing chamber is positioned below the refrigerating chamber, the user would have to bend over at the waist in order to open the freezing chamber door to access the ice. To a frequent ice user, uncomfortably accessing the freezing chamber numerous times may outweigh the benefits of providing ease of access to the refrigerating chamber.
In order to solve such a problem, bottom freeze type refrigerators may include a dispenser configured for dispensing ice that is provided in a refrigerating chamber door. In this case, the ice dispenser is also positioned in the upper portion of the refrigerator, and more specifically is located above the freezing chamber. In this case, an ice making device for generating ice may be provided in the refrigerating chamber door or in the interior of the refrigerating chamber.
For example, in the bottom freeze type refrigerator in which the ice making device is installed in the refrigerating chamber door, air (cooling air) cooled by an evaporator is discharged to the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber. More specifically, a portion of the cooling air discharged to the freezing chamber side flows to the ice making device along a cooling air supply duct embedded in a sidewall of a main body of the refrigerator. The cooling air subsequently freezes water while flowing within the ice making device. Thereafter, the cooling air within the ice making device is discharged to the refrigerating chamber through a cooling air reducing duct embedded in the sidewall of the main body of the refrigerator. This discharged cooling air is subsequently used to lower an internal temperature of the refrigerating chamber.
However, since the discharged cooling air of the freezing chamber is used first in the ice making device to make ice, as the cooling air moves through the cooling air supply duct and the cooling air reducing duct to reach the refrigerating chamber for lowering its temperature, the supply efficiency of the discharged cooling air may be degraded.
In addition, the ice making device may be inefficient when located in the often accessed refrigerating chamber. That is, the temperature of the cooling air of the freezing chamber side used to freeze ice is undesirably raised every time the refrigerating chamber door is opened. In turn, the discharged cooling air used to lower the temperature of the refrigerating chamber will also be undesirably raised. As such, more cooling cycles are required to make ice in the ice making device located in the refrigerating chamber door when compared to an ice making device located in the freezing chamber, especially when the refrigerating chamber is frequently accessed. Furthermore, because the temperature of discharged cooling air may be undesirably raised by frequent access to the refrigerating chamber, more cooling cycles may also be required to lower temperature of the refrigerating chamber. All of the aforementioned results in increased power consumption of the refrigerator unit.
What is needed is a more efficient way to make ice in a bottom freeze type refrigerator.